Girls girls know Andrew Rannells as Lena Dunham's (Hannah's) sassy, gay ex-boyfriend, Elijah. Also the star of The New Normal, he's back for season two, premiering Jan. 13, and bearing his bum in a shocking sex scene. Caution: Spoilers sprinkled ahead!

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\nCosmo: You have a bigger role—as Hannah's roommate—this season. How did that come about?

Andrew: I thought it was a joke when Lena said she wanted Elijah to move in. I got to live with Lena for a week in L.A. last year, which was such a treat and so much fun. She was editing the first season and I went to L.A. to take some general meetings, so I stayed with her in a little house in the Hollywood Hills. We were just silly.

Andrew: Lena and I like to describe it as our Moonlighting dynamic. At his core, Elijah loves Hannah and he's in love with Hannah but there are obstacles, his sexuality being a big one. We do hang out and bond in real life and I am completely in love with her, so it's easy to pretend to be her friend.

Andrew: I haven't seen it yet and I am a little scared. Obviously, that was not real cocaine. We would often say to each other, 'If we had done this much coke, we would have died like 20 minutes ago.' We were really snorting vitamin B powder so we felt super alert at the end of those days. It's sort of like when you're doing a drunk scene, you do weirdly start to feel drunk. We did feel high and were jumping around and dancing. It was also disgusting: We were supposed to be sweaty, but water would have dried too quickly during filming, so they were putting baby oil all over us, just smearing it in our hair and all over our face, pores be damned!

Cosmo: You guys do a really good job of acting high. Were you drawing on any personal experience?!

Andrew: I might have drawn on some personal experience (laughs.) Lena had to be severely coached. It's a testament to her acting skill. There was a moment where the director, Jesse Peretz, wanted us to snort a huge line of "cocaine" and launch right into the scene. I went first and snorted the entire line and Lena said, 'Whoa, you did that so well!' I was like, 'Thanks. I think?'

Cosmo: We don't want to give too much away, but how does Elijah, who is gay, end up having a sex scene with a girl this season?

Andrew: He's young. It wasn't my personal experience but I have friends who have come out and are comfortable with themselves and feeling free and often times, that might lead to some experimentation in the other direction. I think that's what happens with Elijah. He's drunk and feeling some feelings and says, 'Why not?' I feel lucky because when I came out, I felt very confident about who I was. There wasn't a lot of confusion.

Cosmo: How did you feel about showing your bum in this sex scene?

Andrew: It was my first nude scene and I was very proud of my nudity waiver that I had to sign. I took a picture of it and showed it to all of my friends. At that point I was happy to do it. I would have been offended if they had not asked me to be naked. Everybody else gets to do it. Why can't I? I couldn't have asked for a better first sex scene partner. She was my first; I'll always remember her! She shared her shimmer body lotion with me, which made me feel very confident.

Cosmo: You're also taking your clothes off as a stripper in the new movie, Bachelorette. Are you feeling used for your hot body?

Andrew: I don't know about that! They asked me to do it and I said, 'Sure.' Then it was like, 'Oh shit, I'm actually here in front of Kirsten Dunst with tearaway pants on.'